THE ASIAN ADVANTAGE Tuesday 25 July 2006 6.30pm to 8.00pm ( networking reception until 9.00pm) The British Library Conference Centre 96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB Tickets, priced £10 (£7.50 concessions) Box Office: 020 7412 7222 boxoffice@bl.uk

Around the globe, Asian entrepreneurs are creating world-beating businesses. In the UK, Asian companies continue to be the fastest growing business sector, and contribute well over £20 billion a year to the London economy alone. To probe deeper into this success, the British Library is holding an ‘Asian master-class’ with four award-winning UK Asian entrepreneurs.

Four of the UK’s leading Asian business role models will talk about their business secrets, the influence of their Asian culture on their business thinking, and how they defied obstacles to build their success at ‘The Asian Advantage - Discover the Formula for Success’ discussion panel and networking reception at The British Library on Tuesday 25 July.

The panel features Dinesh Dhamija the founder, chair and chief executive of the online travel specialists, ebookers, Surinder Arora, the owner and chairman of Arora International Hotels, Sumerah Ahmad, the co-founder and director of the radio station Club Asia and Lord Bilimoria CBE DL, the founder and chief executive of Cobra Beer. Lisa Aziz, award-winning broadcaster and one of the main news anchors on ITV West, will chair the discussion.

‘The Asian Advantage - Discover the Formula for Success’ is the first in an exciting new series of events, ‘Inspiring Entrepreneurs’, supported by HSBC, at which the British Library will bring together the leading lights of the British entrepreneurial scene to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs by their vision and example.

The 2006 – 2007 ‘Inspiring Entrepreneurs’ events programme - supported by HSBC, ‘the world’s local bank’ includes:

• Ethical Entrepreneurs business with a conscience?
• Hot off the press, what does it take to become a media mogul?
• Oriental Express, an evening to coincide with Chinese New Year to celebrate the buzzing community of Chinese entrepreneurs emerging into the spotlight.
• Mothers of Invention 2, after the huge success of the ‘Mothers of Invention’ in 2005, during International Women’s Month the British Library welcomes back more of the UK’s most successful businesswomen to find out how they used their ingenuity to achieve entrepreneurial success.

Isabel Oswell, Head of Business Marketing at the British Library said: “As well as offering business insights from some of the UK’s leading entrepreneurs, these events will also introduce attendees to the British Library’s Business & IP Centre - a fantastic, free resource which includes up-to-date information on companies, markets and intellectual property. The Business & IP Centre also has a team of information experts to help users find the information they need and we run workshops and clinics on a range of relevant topics from how to protect your ideas to how to write a business plan.”